Dean鈥檚 Recognition - Awards
Reaud Honors College Dean Tilisa Thibodeaux is proud to recognize our Honors Students of the Year and Honors Faculty of Distinction.
These distinguished awards were launched in the academic year 2023-2024, during our college's 60th anniversary year and during 91制片厂’s centennial celebration. Our Honors student body continued our rich tradition of recognizing the Honors Professor of the Year.
Congratulations to our prestigious recipients!
Leadership
Awarded to Honors student who best excels as a leader displaying creativity, innovation, and long-term effectiveness in advancing the mission of the Reaud Honors College and 91制片厂
Research & Scholarship
Awarded to Honors student who demonstrates exemplary scholastic work in both academics and research within any field
Community
Awarded to Honors student who demonstrates an ability to build community between the Reaud Honors College and at least one partner from within the 91制片厂 community or the greater Southeast Texas area
Rima Shaaban (Class of 2025) excelled as a leader by displaying creativity, innovation, and long-term effectiveness in advancing the mission of the Reaud Honors College and 91制片厂. She represented the student body as SEC Vice President of Internal Affairs; SGA Associate Justice; SGA Senior Class Senator; Cardinal Orientation Team Leader; and LU Ambassador.
Within the Reaud Honors College, Rima served as Honors Student Association President and Vice President. As a peer mentor, she also provided guidance and advice to fellow Honors Cardinals. As a McMaster international scholar, she took a Human Resources course while studying abroad in Greece.
Rima was also an active leader within her Chemistry Pre-Dental major, serving as President and Vice President of LU's Pre-Dental Society. Her experience as an undergraduate researcher encouraged her to uplift fellow student researchers as Treasurer for LURA.
Ryan Shugart (Class of 2025) produced exemplary scholastic work in both academics and research within his field. As a David J. Beck Scholar, Ryan conducted research as a Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) engineer with Emerson Automation Solutions under the leadership of Charles Eastberg and his team in the greater Austin area. He also furthered his academic credentials by completing an FPGA course from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
As part of his research as a Beck Fellow, Ryan evaluated key components between industry and coursework. He is awaiting publication confirmation on his research from the American Society for Engineering Education.
Ryan is also a McNair Scholar. He conducted his McNair research on "Optimizing the Energy Efficiency of a Standard Household Refrigerator," using a TEG, during which he implemented a temperature gradient system that captured 0.125% of previously wasted thermal energy by utilizing waste heat recovery on one side and dissipating excess heat on the other. He also evaluated data through assessments, experiments, and analysis to document noteworthy discoveries.
Brenna Swanton (Class of 2025, at left) and Gladys Oliva Guillen (Class of 2025, at right)
Both Gladys and Brenna belong to our outstanding JoAnne Gay Dishman School of Nursing and have almost identical resumes.
Their dedication to volunteerism is an outstanding testament to the students in our nursing program. Gladys and Brenna have hundreds of hours of preceptorship, volunteerism, and critical care in areas such as: community health, pediatrics, leadership and management, and behavioral health. They donated considerable time to help their profession at CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth Hospital and Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas.
Scholastically, they both earned healthcare certifications that include Basic Life Support and Vision Screening. They also belong to professional organizations, including the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nurses.
Beyond campus, Gladys and Brenna applied their compassionate skills and boundless energy to benefit community partners, including the Southeast Texas Food Bank and the Reaud Foundation’s Bicycles and Bibles.
Honors Faculty of Distinction
Awarded by the Reaud Honors College to instructional faculty in any school or discipline who demonstrates excellence in honors education
Dr. Sanaz Alasti (Professor of Criminal Justice) aims to create transformative classroom experiences that bridge theory with practice and empower students to contribute meaningfully to scholarly and professional communities. She is passionate about global awareness and especially student learning opportunities.
She is the author of 10 books in the field of criminal justice, taught three innovative honors courses— Penology: History of Crime and Punishment; Law & Order: Justice and Injustice Across the World; and Death Penalty—that challenge students to analyze justice systems through historical and global lenses and is founder of the International Conference on Criminal Justice Reform and Founder of the Center for Death Penalty Studies here at 91制片厂.
She is admired by her colleagues at 91制片厂: "Dr. Alasti is an international scholar and teacher who brings extraordinary knowledge and vision to the classroom. She has a breadth of experience that many faculty never achieve due to her cross-cultural background, networks, and travel."
Dr. Alasti is also admired by colleagues in her field, including this acknowledgment sent to us from a colleague at Harvard University: "Over the years, I have followed Sanaz Alasti's work on capital punishment from a comparative law perspective, especially her studies of the United States, Islamic countries, and Israel. Aided by her knowledge of Middle Eastern languages and cultures, Alasti has made significant research contributions in the study of comparative criminal justice systems and on the role of religion in the punishment of crime. She is delivering to the U.S. legal and social science communities powerful insights revealing the workings of criminal justice systems from around the world."
Honors Professor of the Year
Awarded by Reaud Honors College students in special recognition of their favorite honors professor of the academic year
Dr. Zhifo Guo (Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry) is a research mentor to numerous RHC students, including Sergio Mendez, who presented the award on behalf of the Honors Student Association.
“Dr. Guo not only helped me grow in my academic career, but he ignited a passion in me with a gateway into research. He is the main reason I became president of LURA to further inspire more students to pursue research in every major," Mendez said.
Sharing what makes a professor great: "From my experience, it is patience, communication, and most importantly seeing the potential in their students and helping them fulfill it."
During his first two years at LU, Mendez studied under Dr. Guo in Gen Chem 1 and Organic Chemistry 2. "While in his class, he asked me if I was interested in pursuing research, and I think from that moment on, I learned that I can be successful because he saw something in me that I never did," Mendez said. "Imposter Syndrome is real for pre-medicine students, especially for me as a First Gen, but when a distinguished professor recognizes your perseverance, dedication, and believes in your success, all those fears come crashing down."
He added, "As a First Generation college student, I never fathomed the idea of research and most definitely I never anticipated being blessed with the opportunity to say I have a research article in a journal."
"Thank you for seeing my potential," Mendez concluded, "and for always allowing students to go in to ask questions even outside of your office hours."